Work Better, Not Harder

It's that year - the Canadian Anti Spam Legislation comes fully info effect on July 1, 2017. Wait, before you roll your eyes and click away, read the next paragraph. The average small business in Canada has nowhere near the list size to trigger an investigation under CASL. And the reality is most small businesses aren't yet CASL-compliant... and that probably includes yours (and even mine). There's no need to get alarmed. Here are the 4 most obvious ways businesses aren't yet fully compliant. #1. Subscription process is missing a description of what content the subscriber can expect to receive and how often You don't want to be misleading and you also can't be too vague. Simply "Sign up for my newsletter!" is not good enough. Besides, you want a killer call-to-action ; it makes good sense regardless of CASL. Offering a free download? If you plan to add the contact to your regular mailing list, you still need to say that. #2. Maili...

A simple process was all I needed to promote two workshops and manage registrations. But, as I often do, I decided to use the opportunity to try out some new ways to do things. Yesterday I put the workshops live for registration. Here are all the different applications I used or will use in my campaign to promote and manage the registrations. my website builder Canva Blogger Hootsuite Social Jukebox iContact PayPal JotForm - my newest favourite app Google Calendar Twitter Facebook Google+ LinkedIn and email Phew! Some of these are integrated, some not, but I had fun pulling it all together (mostly). And the next time I need to fill workshops, it'll take me a lot less time to put everything in place. photo by edkohler / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article

You may already be autoposting your newsletter onto your social media feeds when you send it out. It makes sense to share it more than once , especially if it's the only content you have (i.e. if you're not also blogging). Re-sharing your newsletter issues using the read online link on your social media feeds multiple times will extend your readership beyond your current subscribers... and hopefully encourage new ones. Facebook Page, Google+ and LinkedIn If not autoposted, post a link to the online version of your newsletter as soon as it goes out. Use the sharing buttons within your newsletter to make it easy. For a monthly newsletter, you might consider sharing it again a couple of times before your next issue goes out. Twitter Tweet a link to the online version of your newsletter a couple of times a week until your next issue goes out. Use the tweet button in your newsletter but change up the tweet text each time. Add an image to the tweet for added oomph. If yo...

'Focus' has been my 'word of the year' since January 2010. When I did a little checking to figure out that date, I was surprised at how long I've been focussed on focus. Perhaps I'm as focussed as I'm going to get. This year I'm going to buck the 'one word' movement and go with three words: surprised by joy . It's a wish for how I want to be in 2017. The first line of William Wordsworth's poem of the same name is: "Surprised by joy - impatient as the Wind" I stumbled upon it recently while reading books by Canadian author Louise Penny . "Surprised by joy" is a recurring theme throughout her Inspector Gamache series. Maybe it stuck with me because patience sure isn't my best quality. Share your word (or words) of the year in the comments. Whatever they are, my wish is that you will be surprised by the joy of success this year. Click to Tweet this Article

If you have a sign-up form, you want subscribers. If you want subscribers, you need to get them to your sign-up form. To get people to your sign-up form, you need to tell them where to find it. Check your own subscription process now If you have a sign-up form on your website , try this short exercise. Prepare a call to action with the appropriate link to send a new social media follower to your sign-up form. Really, do it now or you won't get this. It'll only take a minute. Go and post it now. Here is an example I might use: Free with sign-up! Immediately get a mini workbook with 10 Content Templates to make your writing time more productive.  http://daleyprogress.com/newsletter.html Ready? Pretend you're that new follower. Read your call to action and click to follow the link. Now stop and take your fingers off that mouse. Is your sign-up form staring you in the face, bold and beautiful with no other distractions? If it's not, that might explain why yo...

A redirect page is a webpage where someone ends up after filling in your subscription form. This is something you have control over and it's worth putting a little effort into. After all, someone has just said they trust you enough to sign up for your newsletter - it's a good time to dazzle them with more of your brilliance and give them some value right away . Here is a screenshot of Anita Kirkbride's redirect page. When someone subscribes to Twirp's newsletter, this is where they end up. Here's why this page is great: It clearly describes what the subscriber signed up for. There's a free giveaway, which was promised in the call to action. There's a link to get immediate value by going to Twirp's blog. Also those cute little Twirplings at the bottom of the screen jump up and down... which made me feel kind of happy to have subscribed. Is it time to take a fresh look at your own redirect page? What is the most important message you want t...

On May 30, 2013, we sent out the 50th issue of the Work Better, Not Harder newsletter. In it I wrote about the importance of celebrating milestones - small business owners don't do that enough. In July of 2016, we sent out issue #100. That big milestone was reached through our own perseverance; we could have reached it even if we had no readers. Something to be proud of but not particularly motivating. I want people to read my stuff - that motivates me. For a couple of years, we've been flirting with reaching 10,000 pageviews on our blog in one calendar month, coming close but never quite reaching it. In December 2016 it finally happened - we had over 12,000 pageviews. Thank you to our readers who keep coming back! Blogging regularly (this is post #451) has brought many benefits: More social media contacts More subscribers = potential clients and referrers Enhanced reputation Better writing skills - practice makes perfect Motivation More referrals, clients and ...

Sometimes it's hard to heed my own advice. Even when I know this particular piece of advice is perhaps the most important when it comes to creating content. I can give you a number of tips to help you write better articles. But there is one simple thing you can do that can really improve the quality of your work, to make your content more useful and interesting. This tip is particularly ingenious - are you ready for it? Prepare your content over two separate sittings , preferably on two different days. It's a simple concept but often not so easy to implement with deadlines looming . First sitting: do an outline research if necessary write a draft Second sitting: review and edit your draft add appropriate links to past articles run spell-check and proof (read aloud if you don't have a proofer) Coming back to your writing with fresh eyes will almost always result in improvement. Because you are taking extra care to craft your messages, you'll feel mo...

Sometimes I can be quite judgmental of others' newsletters, and most of the time I keep that to myself. Being a critic means I can also appreciate good examples of newsletters, and email marketing in general. Have a look at this one which arrived in my inbox recently from a local restaurant with the subject line: Seasons Greetings from all of us at Finbar's . The content in this email is just right for several reasons. The subject line clearly said what is was - a holiday greeting. If I wasn't in the mood for holiday cheer, I could have deleted it with little hassle (but stayed subscribed for future news). I was feeling cheery when I received Finbar's email. A good overall balance of images and text - and not too long. It looked like it wouldn't take much time to read. A colourful photo of the young kids dressed for the season - you won't find this on shutterstock; it connects on a personal level. A funny personal story - curiosity got me reading the ...

In preparation for our office party this year, I wrote a poem. Then I gathered together the things I would need to have a party with Romeo and Danielle. (The Temptations were for Romeo, the phone for Danielle, and the coffee for me.) Romeo, my cat, is used to hearing me talk out loud as I proofread and he was unusually excited about hearing the poem. Danielle, who lives several time zones away in Saskatchewan, also works alone (and helps me out lots) so I invited her to my office party by phone. It was a good move because she's a master at rhyming words. After much anticipation, I started to read the finished poem aloud to them. As you can see in the photos above, I had their full attention. Ode to a Midnight Blog Silent night, late at night, I've still got my blog to write. My laptop propped up on my bed, I'm hoping ideas will fill my head. Yawns escaping, eyelids drooping, Neck is stiff, my thoughts are looping. My brain is sore, I th...

Are any of these your reasons for publishing a business blog... ? to be found (on Google or anywhere else) to build your reputation to be seen as an expert to be useful to start relationships All of those are great reasons to blog! But, regardless of why you've been writing, your efforts will only pay off if people are reading your stuff. Aside from creating content, does your content strategy also include a plan to both distribute your content and attract new readers ? Create the content, then promote the content. It's an ongoing process that you need to keep alive - both for your own benefit and for your fans. photo by wallyg / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article

Building a contact list is a long slog , which is why most business owners don't have a good one. And why, when you have a good list, you need to appreciate every single entry in it. One of those contacts will bring your next big opportunity. Protect your contact list - don't ever sell it. And don't give your list away for free, either. Keep it all to yourself - it's a gold mine . People may know you've given away their contact info but, even if they don't, you've given away their attention - a most valuable thing, today and tomorrow. photo by Franck BLAIS / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article

Whenever the busy time is for your small business, you can't avoid it - at some point in the next year, you'll be overwhelmed. Help out your future self by preparing a bunch of marketing content during your slow season. Having a whole day to spend on content sounds awesome to me. Perhaps not so much to you. If you want a little guidance, here are 10 activities that will set you up for success for months to come . Write a wrap-up article – a summary of *something* from the past year that you’ve written about several times. Brainstorm a long list of topics. Nothing is too wonky to put on your list. Go online and do a little research to get more ideas to add to your list. Pick 10 article ideas from your list and write a brief point form outline of each. Pick a handful of those outlines and draft full articles. Pick 2 of those drafts, edit and proof them in preparation for publishing. (Or send them to your editor.) Source images to use with your 10 article ideas. ...

"Which is better?" I asked. "'I need to capitalize on the time I've invested in writing.' or 'I need to leverage the time I've invested in writing.'" Danielle said, "'I need people to read my stuff.'" Two lessons here, one obvious and one not so obvious. 1. Using plain language and simple words is critical - and often surprisingly difficult. But, when you use simple words in your marketing, you reduce the risk of something being misinterpreted. ( Tweet This! ) 2. Brainstorming by phone has a big advantage. I was looking at the sentences, hung up on the visual impact of the decision. How would the words look? Would they fit where I needed them to? When I read those two carefully crafted options out loud to Danielle on the phone, she immediately simplified the whole concept. Isn't brainstorming wonderful?! photo by michael pollak / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article

An interactive newsletter will provoke responses from your readers. Aside from calls to action related to a sales process, interactivity is also good because it makes you more memorable . #1. Conduct a poll . Use an app (like SurveyMonkey) that allows you to show results after someone takes the poll. Keep it to one question . Publish the results in your next issue. #2. Include a special offer only for those who make it to the very bottom of your newsletter. Tell readers how to contact you to take advantage of the offer. #3. Link to a video . This can even be cleverly disguised as a screenshot of the video inserted into your newsletter. #4. Link to a free resource or some other type of giveaway. Upload the file to your website or Dropbox first, then use that link in your newsletter. #5. If your newsletter article is also on your blog, link to it and ask people to leave comments there. #6. Use click-to-tweet and other social media sharing options. Encourage readers to...